I submit this quotation from one Mr. Mick Jagger from Rolling Stone Magazine Issue # 983 - published at the beginning of the ABB tour in September 2005:
Jagger--> " If we go on tour, we gotta do a record. It shows that you are an actual functioning rock band. I don't want to be one of those bands that just does hits. People say 'I much prefer to hear Brown Sugar than a new song'. Well, I don't give a shit what you prefer."
Sure makes me long for the old days. The span of time from the release to A Bigger Bang to now is only a few months longer than the span of time that lapsed between the release of Sticky Fingers and Goats Head Soup. The nicest thing about the rumors of a tour in the spring is that they won't dare call it an extension of the A Bigger Bang tour.
They may have actually solid a few more Cds/downloads if they actually played some of the songs live. Sad, sad, sad...
Back of My Hand, Neocon and several others would have made great live songs for every show. They didn't play Neocon at all, and back of My Hand was played maybe 2 or 3 times?
For the last 3 shows in London they didn't bother to play anything other than Rough Justice....good live song, but....
I wouldn't have minded more ABB material but having said that it's hard to sacrifice any of the classics ... only solution = a longer show, and that likely wasn't a viable option.
Turd On The Run Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I submit this quotation from one Mr. Mick Jagger > from Rolling Stone Magazine Issue # 983 - > published at the beginning of the ABB tour in > September 2005: > > Jagger--> " If we go on tour, we gotta do a > record. It shows that you are an actual > functioning rock band. I don't want to be one of > those bands that just does hits. People say 'I > much prefer to hear Brown Sugar than a new song'. > Well, I don't give a shit what you prefer." > > What happened...?
His exact words were actually "but I prefer 'Brown Sugar'" - "well, listen to THIs, c**t!"
Steels Wheels sold 6 million copies, VL 5.5 million and B2B 4 million. Those albums were selling well during the tours, by contrast ABB barely reached the 2 million mark and by January-February 2006 it was out of any world chart. During all the european tour this year, the album only charted again in Sweden for a single week.
Well, they did 8 out of 16 songs live, not too bad imo. Back Of My Hand and Infamy were no rare treats but regularely done on the 2005 US leg. And apart from the Euro 2007 tour, they still had at least three Bigger Bang songs in the set, Rough Justice, Streets Of Love, ONNYA, often Rain Fall Down and/or This Place Is Empty as well. Not too bad, considering, they rehersed some 100 more songs. Totally agree on the summer 07 though, don't know why that was still called the bigger Bang tour.
By the way, saw a Ronnie Wood interview lately, where he mentions that he would have loved to do Look What The Cat Dragged In live. Too bad,noone listened to him... I'll post the link if I find it again.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-08-29 08:28 by therollingmanu.
georgelicks Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Steels Wheels sold 6 million copies, VL 5.5 > million and B2B 4 million. Those albums were > selling well during the tours, by contrast ABB > barely reached the 2 million mark and by > January-February 2006 it was out of any world > chart. During all the european tour this year, the > album only charted again in Sweden for a single > week.
You need to take into account the shift in the market since 1997. Nobody sells as many records as they used to. Actually, for two weeks in 2005, ABB was the highest selling album in the world and staying in the "World Top Ten" for quite a few weeks after that.
In Denmark it sold to platinum status - not many foreign (or Danish) artists do that anymore. Selling 15-20.000 in Denmark equals selling 80 - 100.000 copies 10 years ago, according to the business, who have therefore lowered the bar for recieving silver, gold and platinum awards.
therollingmanu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, they did 8 out of 16 songs live, not too bad > imo.
meaningless statistic unless you add the number of times each was played. Which in most of the 8 examples was 'not bloody often'. Especially in late 2006 and throughout 2007.
letitloose Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Whatever happened to "It wont take long"? I love > that song. Am I right that they only did it once?
twice - SD and Hollywood - i don't even like the song much but i thought they knocked it out pretty well
I imagine they simply realized it was not such a great album, with meat on it (my definition of meat = something new, that works)... Its songs they did try on tour did not hold up well, after all, against anything from the past, that had any originality in it.
Odd-beat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I imagine they simply realized it was not such a > great album, with meat on it (my definition of > meat = something new, that works)... Its songs > they did try on tour did not hold up well, after > all, against anything from the past, that had any > originality in it.
I take issue with that - 'Streets of Love' worked very well live It is a great ballad which disappeared from the setlist to be replaced by yet another fast one like, 'She was hot'.
As I've said before, when it comes to setlists, it's all a matter of opinion and I believe the band makes the best choices it can given all of the factors.
Having said that, I too really wish they had played more new material. It's true that 8 songs total sounds pretty good, but for the last year or so it's been only 1-2 most nights...
A natural result of this choice is that, Jagger's comments notwithstanding, people will call you an oldies band..
Odd-beat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I imagine they simply realized it was not such a > great album, with meat on it (my definition of > meat = something new, that works)... Its songs > they did try on tour did not hold up well, after > all, against anything from the past, that had any > originality in it.
I remember a Mick interview around January 2006, he was really disappointed by the sales of ABB.
"Back of My Hand" live was awesome in DC...highlight of the show, without question....best song of the 5 shows I saw....DC, C'ville (VA), Charlotte (NC), Boston (twice)....
I only heard the boot of "It Won't Take Long" in Hollywood (I think)....I thought they butchered it....but, they shoulda played it more....great song.
"Oldies Band"....hahaha...how about a "Band of Oldies???"
Gazza Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > therollingmanu Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Well, they did 8 out of 16 songs live, not too > bad > > imo. > > meaningless statistic unless you add the number of > times each was played. Which in most of the 8 > examples was 'not bloody often'. Especially in > late 2006 and throughout 2007.
as I said, agree on the 2007 leg but 7 out of the 8 songs (all except for It Won't Take Long) I mentioned were indeed played regularly, not at the same time though.
If they had stayed into playing 21 songs, as they used to before, they could have had the same setlist as now and two ABB songs in addition. SOL was GREAT live, Rain fall down too.
That's the only thing I'm dissapointed with, they play lesser songs the longer the tour goes on... They've done that on many tours....
aslecs Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 1. Stones blew it. They were incredibly > inconsistent re: ABB songs, And then pulled them > completely (nearly) Bad move. > > 2. SOL Live was fabulous
totally agree. sol was amazing live. so were back of my hand and rain fall down. oh no not you was a gas. infamy was fun. dangerous beauty woulda been awesome. same with laugh i nearly died. yep. they blew it.
Rain Fall Down and Back Of My Hand would have been great in the set on a regular basis. Rough Justice sounded great early on but got weaker as the tour went on which is why I was surprised it was the sole song in the set in 2007.